Enough Already!

We have experienced heavy thunderstorms the last four days. While Arne loves them, I say enough already...at least for a while. Unfortunately, the forecast shows thunderstorms most of next week.

On Wednesday afternoon, we had lots of thunder and lightning. Thursday moring while outside to pick up the newspaper, I smelled smoke. I thought it strange for August but we are in a semi-rural area and non-Villagers do have burn piles, much like the farm I grew up on in Iowa. When I opened the paper, there on the front page was a story of a home which was destroyed by fire after a lightning strike. I just read this evening on "Talk of the Villages" that lightning caused a gas explosion in the attic. While we were wanting gas initially, now I'm glad we weren't able to get it.

Thursday afternoon I was over at a neighbor's house with 11 other ladies playing a card game called Hand and Foot, based on Canasta. Around 3:15, the heavens opened up and we were deluged with rain accompanied by wind, thunder and lightning. Power went out in the neighborhood but not our particular location. I heard we had 5" of rain. Unfortunately, Arne hasn't decided where to set up the rain gauge I gave him for his birthday. By the time he makes up his mind as to where to set it up, we'll probably have snow falling. :-)

Friday, I had my nails done at Noon, returned about three items to various stores and was headed for an oil change when the sky became so dark that I decided to skip the oil change and head home. We didn't get much out of that particular storm so Arne and I headed to the movies to see "The Proposal." Cute movie, lots of laughs.

Today Arne and I went to the Market at Marion, a big flea market. Since we weren't certain of its location, we headed north on Hwy 301 and passed through some absolutely beautiful country with horse farms and palatial homes. Arne said it seems as though The Villages were plopped down between Fort Dodge and Ames, Iowa. We do feel like we've gone back to our roots (Iowa and Illinois.)

We spent about 3 hours at the market and brought home 2 orchids and lots of fresh produce...plums, apples, bing cherries (very sweet), bananas, green pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, pink grapefruit and vine-ripened tomatoes...all very reasonable. I also bought some Green Bags which I'd seen on TV. Someone told me they really work so decided to give them a try. They're supposed to keep produce fresh for up to 14 days. As they say, seeing is believing. These bags only cost $4 so not too big of loss if they don't do as advertised.

We arrived home from the flea market in time to see Tiger tee off in the PGA Championship. There was a severe weather warning going across the screen indicating a storm moving into the area from which we had just returned. It suggested moving into an interior room in case of tornado. Arne and I decided our pantry would be the safest place in our house. At least there's food. I guess I'll make sure I always have water stored in there as well. :-) Just a reminder...If caught in the open during a (lightning )strike and the hair on your head or neck begins to stand on end (this really happens) go inside the nearest building. If no shelter is available, crouch down immediately in the lowest possible spot and roll up in a ball with feet on the ground. (DO NOT LIE DOWN.)If really needed, I will remove the brooms and recycle bin so we have more room to sit cross-legged and cover our heads. Yeah, right!!